1st InningsOn a surprisingly sunny morning during an otherwise damp and blustery summer at Old Dunstonians Sports Ground, Catford won the toss and elected to bat first on a deck that looked to be soft and offered little to the opening bowlers.

With the clouds closing in and the wind picking up it was down to either side to set the tone early on; be it with early wickets or boundaries. It was Catford who came out on top, after an early chance went down in the slips, Catford capitalised, with C.Packard(26) and J.Patterson(42) punishing the bad ball well, with a brisk 57 partnership off the first 12 overs featuring many well struck balls and a well clipped maximum over square leg. ODs made the first breakthrough after a frustrating start with some smart bowling from J.Batten finding Packards' edge and the safe hands of A.Ainger making up for his previous early drop.

Catford continued to make quick progress scoring at around 5 an over for the first 20, frustrating the seamers. ODs managed to pinch 2 more of the Cyphers top order before drinks, with B.Webster taking a tough high catch off of a surprising short ball from C.Webster (7-0-39-1) and A.Ainger with some tidy off-spin, rattling O.Hickford's(21) pads before he managed to get more Catford Momentum.

The next phase of the game commenced, with spin being an effective method of squeezing the runs. With A.Ainger (13-0-36-1) tying up the Pavillion end and the surprising E.Nott (5-0-23-0) with his first bowling appearance for the 1st XI, having a couple of close LBW shouts and thick edges. Restricting the Cyphers middle order to 28 runs off 9 overs.

Catford continued to punish the bad ball, and a strong partnership between F.Naweed(70*)and H.Naria(23) saw Catford up to a strong position of 162/3 with 13 overs remaining. Catford proceeded to hit multiple boundaries, not all clean, but all effective nonetheless with an impressive display of aggressive batting taking them to an imposing score of 235/7 with a strong cameo from J.Fogarty(31), which was well contained by ODs who could've been facing a far more daunting chase.

2nd Innings

ODs faced a daunting run chase at 4.72 an over from the off, a gettable but tough challenge for the blue army.

After a frustrating first innings ODs looked to counterattack and build a platform to accelerate from, but unfortunately got off to a sticky start, losing L.Sanders via LBW for a duck by Biddle(5-0-17-1). B.Webster looked to continue on his strong run of form and got off to a strong start with some good running and hard hit boundaries, unfortunately slicing a cover drive into the hands of Noria for a hard fought 22.

The middle order showed flashes of class but were contained by tight Catford slow bowling from Naweed(12-3-31-3) and Packard(6-0-20-2) dismissing A.White for a steady 25 with J.Batten(2) and C.Webster(1) both being bowled trying to push along the scoring.

ODs attempted to keep the wickets from falling with A.Ainger(9) and E.Nott(1) keeping the ODs innings running in a hard fought partnership with Catford fielders crowded round the bat, before A.Ainger was dismissed by the clearly practiced 'slider' and E.Nott bowled by a ragging ball from outside off to top of leg.

ODs had something to smile about with the hard hitting of N.Worsely coming in at number 9, throwing caution to the wind and depositing much of the bowling into the fence with monotonous regularity, much to the amusement of those watching, for a short, sharp 34.

The tail failed to wag as ODs fell to 145 all out, a hard fought result. Leaving ODs 3rd bottom, with serious performances needed for the rest of the season from the 1st XI to push for a high table finish.

Nott

Orpington vs. OD CUACO 1XI - 16th July 2016.

On the back of several defeats the need for a win from the 1st XI is becoming greater. Relegation is becoming a possibility and with key members of the team missing it's time for new players to step up and win matches. Chris won the toss and elected to bat, the first win toss bat in a long time.

Laurence and Rowan opened up, with Rowan taking the attack to the bowlers, first ball, and getting caught at cover. Not an ideal start. Dan Webster then joined Laurence who as with Rowan took the attack to the bowlers and was caught at mid-wicket for not many. Once again we were in a spot of bother with the bat. Chris Webtser than strode to the crease, and with Pokemon Go interrupted for the rest of the team we had high hopes for a captains innings. Chris was caught LBW, leaving Laurence losing partners too often for anyone's comfort. Nick joined Laurence at 7-3 and looked they both looked to take their time and give ourselves the best chance of batting 50 overs. Nick and Laurence batted superbly. Nick was unfortunately caught LBW in the 40s after a sublime combination of attack and defence to get us up to a respectable total, Laurence "the gazelle" was still going strong, now beginning to take the attack to Orpington. Tom Churcher now joined the gazelle and continued to tick the scoreboard over, he ended on a respectable 36, with moments of the 2014 Matt Smit season being remembered. Laurence ended on 61 showing that with graft and determination a score can be salvaged from any situation. Jake Caddy ended the innings with some powerful hitting, proving once again what a great number 7 he is.

With 179 on the board we had hope. The pitch offered enough for the bowlers and we knew who was going to score their runs. Nick opened up with a 10 ball over, the slight hill causing him a few problems, however good signs were there with Nick beating the outside edge on several occasions. Chris following up with a viscous bouncer at their opening batsman, which nearly bounced twice.. None the less we weren't out of the game. Nick and Chris were never able to settle down, Orpington went after the wide ones and found the boundaries on several occasions. It was time for the spin twins to take the game to Orpington. Jake started off well with only a few runs coming from his over, following by a wicket from Andrew with poor shot selection from their opener, caught by Dan Webster in the deep. Mongoose Man then strode out to bat, with the most ridiculous bat I have ever seen (Only use a mongoose if you are going to gun a six in your first 10 balls). Jake and Andrew slowed the run rate right down, Andrew trapped mongoose man LBW, might have had a better chance if he wasn't using half a bat. Their number 4 tried launching Andrew back to Beckenham, only managing to sky it straight to the gazelle, who unfortunately was unable to take the catch. Orpington stuck with the run rate while wickets fell here and there. We knew a few more wickets would put us right back in the game. Nick came back onto bowl and dealt a half volley on leg stump to their big hitting number 4. He obliged and flicked it to the square leg boundary for a nice looking shot, he didn't take into account for Dan. Maybe making up for his batting? Who knows. But a one handed full stretch dive later (possibly saving a six) I had witnessed the best catch in club cricket I have ever seen. Some compared it to Glen McGraths's catch 02, but I've just watched it and Dan was on the boundary, and the ball was hit harder. We had hope. "The catch" lifted the whole team, wickets fell, runs didn't come. They ended up needing 10 from 10, Chris was unable to stop their very experienced skipper from hitting two boundaries which finished us off. A close loss, but we take the positives and push on from here. Relegation is not an option. (I also didn't deserve DOD)

Ainger

1st XI v Broadstairs, 23rd July 2016

It was a bright, sunny day, and stand in skipper Chris decided it was a good idea to lose the toss. Ods were put in the field. After a loose first over from Worsley, the bowling began to tighten up. Skipper Chris managed to shnick off the Broadstairs number 2 early doors, then ran out the number three with a good piece of fielding. A partnership began to build as Alvey and Ainger settled into their spells before spin twin number 1 (Ainger), picked up the settled number 4. Alvey then bowled their gun batsman Dasari off a no ball. Was a great nut coming back through the gate. Dasari went onto get 61 before falling to Jake Caddy. Good squeeze bowling continued til the end, with ODs picking up regular wickets, eventually bowling Broadstairs out for 181.

The batting started relatively well. After Worsley played one of the worst shots Ive ever seen, Dan Webster and the Gazelle put in a steady partnership. Dan fell to their left arm off swing bowler bringing Andy A to the crease. Another partnership grew slowly as tight bowling stopped the flow of runs. Then came the collapse. Laurence went canoeing and paddled one straight down to fine leg in the air, before a run of positive, but ineffective batting saw the home sides demise. Eventually ODs were bowled out for 130 with contributions of 42 and 34 from L Sanders and A Ainger respectively.